The Simplest Things are Often the Truest
by SuperPaperBag
Summary: After the events in the fanfiction "Xenia: Land of the Gods," Dio and Zero visit their home dimension to meet Oz, get some answers about Zero, etc. In chapter 2, Rufus learns a bit about Oz and Gran. Rated M. Chapter 1 in Dio's POV; Chapter 2 in Rufus'.
1. Chapter 1

Dio had found it relatively easy to convince Knight Master to allow him to visit his home dimension for a few days. All it had taken was a mixture of blackmail, death threats, and attempting to maim her in her sleep. When he mentioned that Zero was going with him, the Knight Master had simply agreed and shouted at the stygian to just leave her the hell alone.

He found the wanderer sitting alone in his room. For once Dio understood why the silver-haired demon would want to hide away from the others—everyone had been unable to make proper eye contact with the wanderer ever since his mask was…damaged.

"Hey Zero, I got clearance to leave Aernas," he announced happily, delighted that he would be visiting the dimension he called home.

"Oh, thank you."

The wanderer never once looked up from the book his face was nearly buried into. Dio guessed the other demon was doing so to prevent the stygian from seeing his eyes. Dio was sort of offended by the gesture. "C'mon, let's just go now."

"Alright. If you wish." Zero shut the book in his hand, and stood, retrieving his sword from against a nearby wall and replacing the weapon on his back.

"Do you have to take that piece of rusted scrap metal with you?" the stygian inquired dryly. "I'm leaving my butlers here; you could just leave the sword here, too."

The wanderer shook his head. "No, I could never leave Gran."

"Fine, fine." Honestly Dio was a bit disappointed. It would have been very interesting to see how Zero would behave without that nagging blade constantly present.

As the silver-haired demon walked past the stygian out of the room (with his head down to avoid eye contact), Dio could have sworn that Grandark's eye was glaring at him almost…smugly. How creepy.

The stygian shook off such thoughts and walked beside Zero through the hallway. In order to attract as little attention as possible from the other chasers, the two demons would have to leave Aernas about half a mile from the Grand Chase Headquarters. En route to their destination they passed Sieghart, who gave the stygian a look of utter contempt as he passed.

Dio responded with a prompt, "Go fuck yourself, old man" before continuing on down the hall. Normally he would have started a fight with the immortal, but today he was simply too occupied with the thought of returning home.

"Not getting into a fight this time? I'm impressed," Grandark remarked from the wanderer's back.

"You shut up." The stygian continued outside, walking quickly and purposely. Eventually Dio figured that he was far enough from the others and asked Zero where his master lived.

"Master Oz lives in the northeast."

"You mean that wasteland?" he confirmed. "Huh. I've never been out there. Well, there's a first time for everything." Keeping the relative location in his mind's eye, Dio reached out with his rake hand and tore the invisible and normally-intangible barrier between dimensions.

Zero peered through the newly-created portal tentatively. "Is this…innocuous?" he queried.

"Of course it is! You should know better than to question me!" Dio was tempted to punish the wanderer by pushing him into the portal, but the stygian restrained himself and calmly led Zero by the arm through the gateway. When the two demons had passed over into the other dimension, the magenta-haired demon casually waved his rake hand over the tear between dimensions; the portal then sealed itself.

When the stygian turned back to the other demon, Zero was simply standing there examining his surroundings. He looked as though he was a bit…lost.

"You haven't been back here for a long time, have you?"

"…Yes, it has been a while," the wanderer replied. "Gran, could you-"

"Go straight a mile," the sword stated curtly.

Zero did not question the sword and simply began to walk straight ahead. Dio was a bit annoyed that the wanderer would question him but not the Grandark; he followed the silver-haired demon anyway.

While the stygian had never been to this particular region, it was still obvious that this was his home dimension. There was no moon, sun, or stars in the sky; the only light came from luminescent crystals and plants that had adapted to grow without the presence of light. In the cities, though, there were also lanterns that provided a bit of extra light. Despite the fact that there was no sun, the entire dimension always had a mile climate that never changed. Dio did not know the reason for this; he had never really felt as though he needed to know.

The northeast region of Dio's home dimension was quite barren, containing only a bit of scrub that dotted the terrain. The stygian was instantly reminded of the Gorge of Oath. Eventually he spotted what resembled trees in the distance. As he got closer, Dio realized that it was a giant cluster of trees, except that the trees were all dead. The demon dimension didn't have many trees to begin with, but those that were present were normally taken care of carefully so that they could be used to plant more trees. Dio had never seen so many trees in one place before, let alone so many dead trees.

"What's up with this place?" the stygian inquired.

"Master Oz told me that, in the past, some sort of war was fought here. In the end, the land had a curse placed upon it so that nothing would ever grow here again. Word spread of a curse in this region, and consequently demons began to avoid this area. No one ever removed the trees, which had instantly died the second the curse was placed."

"Let me guess, your master lives here."

"Yes. It was an ideal location."

Dio sighed. The more he learned about Zero, the more he understood why the wanderer was so messed up. "So is this some sort of maze? Or maybe there's a giant beast guarding the entrance?"

"No."

"Traps, then?"

"No, that would be simply ridiculous."

The stygian understood why, though, after actually entering the swarm of dead trees. There was no need for any sort of extra protection; the trees were fine. For one thing, their appearance was quite disconcerting. The branches also snagged at his clothing and tore at his skin. Overall the experience was very annoying, and if Dio had not been intent on reaching Oz's place of residence he would have given up and turned around ages ago.

He quickly came up with the idea of simply hacking down the foliage, but the wanderer had told him not to, as it would decrease his master's defenses. Consequently the stygian was forced to endure it. What made it even worse was the fact that, even though Zero was walking directly in front of the stygian, the silver-haired demon was barely scratched up at all—Dio had no idea how.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably only about five minutes, the demons reached a sort of clearing. The stygian first noticed a house—or at least what appeared to be a house. The building was more plain and simple than any house Dio had ever seen before, but that was likely because he had normally never ventured far beyond his castle or the cities. Then he noticed another demon, who he assumed was Zero's master.

Oz was a hunched over old demon about half as tall as Dio. His hair—what was left of it—was white, his horns were a similar color to the stygian's, and his eyes were a bright flame color. The "great wizard" wore a loose blue robe and carried in one hand a strange winged staff. Dio noticed that the old demon wore an expression that resembled the wanderer's, except one could see a hint of grouchiness in Oz's frown. Another thing the stygian took note of was that, despite the demon's age and frail-looking body, he appeared proud and dignified.

"You certainly were not very quiet. I thought that perhaps a bear was rampaging through the trees," Oz commented dryly. His voice was strong and unwavering.

Zero instantly stopped walking and gave his master an extremely low bow. Dio absentmindedly wondered if he had ever seen a guy bend down that far. The wanderer then stated, "I sincerely apologize for being so raucous. I also apologize for not informing you of my arrival beforehand."

"…Stand up, Zero, and introduce me to your…associate."

The silver-haired demon stood to his full height and gestured to Dio. "Master, this is my comrade Dio Burning Canyon. Dio, this is my master, Oz Pone Max Reinhardt."

Oz raised an eyebrow slightly and looked closer at the stygian. "The chieftain of the Burning Canyon clan has joined the Grand Chase?"

"I have my reasons," Dio stated.

The wizard harrumphed slightly and turned to Zero. Dio was a bit surprised to see that Oz was maintaining steady eye contact with the maskless demon without looking the least bit unnerved or uncomfortable. "Where is your mask?" he inquired calmly.

"That is the nature of my visit. Dio, may I…?"

The stygian remembered that he had been carrying the damaged mask in his pocket ever since he had torn it from Zero's face and quickly handed the facial accessory over to the wanderer. The silver-haired demon then presented the mask to his master.

Oz held the mask in his free hand and quickly examined the torn edge of the strap. "…This looks as though you had fought with some sort of wild beast."

"'Wild beast'? Well, I've been called that in bed," the stygian muttered to himself. Oz appeared to have not heard the comment; however the wanderer did and gave Dio a quick sidelong glance.

"Can you repair it, sir?" the wanderer inquired politely.

The old demon stowed the mask away in the folds of his robes. "Of course. In the meantime, Zero, go deliver this letter for me." Oz reached into his robes and removed a crisp white envelope, which he promptly handed to the wanderer.

"Yes master; I will do so immediately." Zero turned around and in a matter of moments disappeared among the throng of dead trees. The stygian watched the silver-haired demon go, quite annoyed that his friend had simply left him.

"What about me?" Dio asked the wizard.

"Oh, right," Oz muttered, seeming to have forgotten that the magenta-haired demon was even present. "You can follow me inside, but do not touch anything." The wizard then turned and began to slowly walk towards the house. Dio followed behind in silence, not knowing what exactly what he was supposed to do.

"What business do you have with Zero?"

"What?" the stygian inquired, caught off-guard.

Oz sighed. "I asked you what business you have with Zero. He would normally never bring another to see me."

"We're just friends and I was curious."

The wizard was silent until they had stepped inside the house. "…'Friend,' eh? The thought of Zero befriending anyone, let alone you of all demons, is preposterous."

The inside of the house was just as plain as the outside. There was nothing of real interest, except for what appeared to be a few little mementos of Oz's hanging on the walls. "Well, it happened. He's an interesting guy, so I'll stick around as long as he keeps me entertained."

"Zero is also a demon with a life's mission. I trust that you are not distracting him from his purpose...?"

"Not really," Dio replied casually. "But tell me, what do you think of Zero?"

"You certainly **are** curious."

"So are you going to answer my question?

Oz sighed once more before stating, "I might as well. Demons in general can be quite persistent. Zero is a quick learner, a hard worker, and quite disciplined. I have no problems with him."

"So you have no problems with him probably dying when he goes off to fight Void?"

"I would prefer if he lived," Oz stated. "However, if he does die, that is that. It is one life opposed to the millions of lives that could be extinguished if Void was allowed to live much longer."

Dio thought back to another issue that seemed to be plaguing the wanderer. "Do you trust him?"

"No."

"Why? He's loyal as hell."

"Yes; however there is no reason for him to be loyal to me. I fear that one day he will realize this for himself and decide to renounce his lifelong mission. Or perhaps he may even decide to turn on me for the pain and training I have put him through."

"I see. Grandark certainly acts like it doesn't owe you anything."

Oz shook his head disapprovingly. "I prefer not to talk about that sword."

Dio knew that continuing to speak further would only be pushing his luck. He remained quiet and followed the old demon in front of him, not quite sure exactly where he was going or where he even was. After a few moments he became aware that Zero was walking beside him. He had no idea how long the wanderer had been there—Zero didn't tend to make a lot of noise.

Oz suddenly stopped in front of a door that looked no different from the twenty others the stygian had passed. "This is my study; no one but me is allowed in here," the wizard stated. "Zero, keep the Burning Canyon occupied for around ten minutes while I repair your mask."

"Yes sir."

The old demon then entered the room in front of him, leaving the wanderer and stygian alone in the hallway. Zero gently took the stygian's wrist and lead him off down another hallway.

"Whoa there Zero. I don't do sex on the first date."

Grandark's eye opened and glared at him in annoyance. "You be silent. I've had enough of you venting your damn sexual frustration on us. And for your information, Zero just wants to show you something."

"Is it his d-"

"No. Now keep your thoughts in your head instead of your pants," the sword interrupted.

Dio couldn't help his "lewd" thoughts—they were just a part of him. Suddenly the wanderer stopped and the magenta-haired demon took in his surroundings. It was a hallway similar to all the other hallways he had just walked through. This one, though, seemed to have a bit more decoration on the walls.

The first thing that caught his eye was a shield on one of the walls with the symbol of his own clan on it. He walked closer and realized that along that entire wall were various little trophies, all with the symbols of different clans on them. Some of the symbols Dio didn't recognize, and he reasoned that those were probably the symbols of clans that no longer existed. The stygian looked to Zero for an explanation.

"Master Oz currently belongs to no clan," Zero elucidated. "However, he has associated in some way with almost every clan that has ever existed. I would not go as far as to call him a philanthropist, but he has done quite a bit for each clan—enough that they would give him these items. Consequently all of the clans are, in some degree or form, indebted to him. It is because of that that I am able to roam freely in this dimension without other demons besetting me."

The stygian looked at the other wall of the hallway and noticed a large painting in the center. Upon further inspection he noticed that it was a portrait of a demon that looked oddly familiar. "No way; that can't be Oz," he mumbled to himself. The resemblance, though, was uncanny. In the painting Oz appeared to be around middle-aged; his hair was the same white color, but quite a bit longer and more copious. While the body structure was less…old…the eyes, slightly-displeased facial expression, and staff were all the same as the current Oz's.

Zero walked beside the magenta-haired demon and gave the stygian a weak little half-smile. "Master Oz never informed me of this picture; I discovered it myself by accident," he stated.

"I've only known him for about ten minutes, but I still can't imagine him looking different from an old man…this is weird. This picture must be old as shit."

"I imagine it is quite old."

"The years certainly haven't been kind to him," Dio remarked. He looked over at the other demon and noticed that the wanderer was still looking at the portrait with a small smile. "…You really respect him, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Is that why you accept him as your master?"

"No. Simply respecting someone is not a sufficient reason."

Just then Dio detected the shuffling sort of steps that he recognized as belonging to Oz. Moments later the wizard spotted them in the hallway and approached them. "Repairing this took far less time than I initially thought," Oz explained, returning the mask to its owner.

Zero thanked his master and placed his mask back on his face. Although the wanderer's eyes were no longer visible, Dio could not help but recall what was now hidden below the mask. Just the thought made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

Oz sighed wistfully and stared up at the portrait. "You are looking at this old thing again…I remember those days well. If I still had that body…I would deal with Void myself."

"If you did still have that body…would I not exist?" Zero mused aloud.

"Yes, you would not," the wizard replied.

"Then am I only a weapon? Is there nothing more to me?"

The wizard was silent for a moment. He appeared a bit surprised—Zero must never have asked him that question before. "…As of now, yes. You are a weapon until you defeat Void. If you live after accomplishing your goal, you are free to do whatever you wish for the remainder of your life. All ties to me and the Grandark will be dissolved. After that point I will never ask anything of you again."

Dio expected the wanderer to be a bit hurt after hearing that he wasn't really a person at all, but Zero was just standing there looking indifferent as usual. The stygian quickly inquired, "What was Zero like before you started training him?"

"Training began almost immediately, but I do recall a few things. What struck me most prominently was that he was extremely easy to train. From the beginning he was obedient and more or less disciplined," Oz stated. "When he was younger, though, I remember him being quite curious. The Grandark would always be answering his seemingly-endless supply of questions. He has always differed from the norm, though. That is all I remember."

The stygian scoffed. "That can't be all you remember."

"It is. At my age you begin to forget such things. I answered your questions; that should be sufficient. Now I must be off; I have other business to attend to." Oz then turned and walked away.

When the wizard had disappeared around the corner, Grandark quoted, "'The 'truth' is sometimes hidden in the shadows of what's being looked at and can't be seen properly.'"

"…What?"

"Although in this case, Zero, I think you're desperately searching through the shadows for a 'truth' that doesn't exist when the real 'truth' has been staring you in the face this entire time. This is who you are, so come to terms with it before you waste all your time looking for some sort of deeper meaning," the sword stated.

The wanderer was silent for a moment before turning to Dio. "I apologize for wasting your time."

"No! It's not a waste of time, you idiot!" the stygian shouted, fed up with the sword and its influence over its wielder. "I refuse to believe that you're not a person! You weren't trained to make friends with me, but you did! And have you ever thought for a moment that maybe Grandark is trying to make you think that you're not a person so it can take over your mind? Maybe it even wants to take your body for its own!"

Both Zero and the blade were silent for an extremely long time. Finally the wanderer muttered, "I do not know who I should believe anymore" and was silent. The silver-haired demon led Dio out of the house and told him, "You should visit your own home. I can find my own way back to Aernas."

"Zero, I'm not just going to leave you alone when you're confused like this!"

"I need time to think. Please go." The wanderer then turned around and began to walk back inside the house.

"Then don't take the fucking sword with you!" Dio shouted at the disappearing form of the wanderer. He wondered if Zero had heard him. The stygian then sighed and wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Dude that took way longer to write than it should have. -.- Anywho, here it is, the epilogue-ish thing to my previous story "Xenia: Land of the Gods".

-All of this will make a lot more sense if you've read my previous stories.

-Why is all of this in Dio's POV? I have no idea. xD

-Ok, before anyone starts complaining, yes, around 60-70% of the information in this story is pretty much totally made up. I'm sorry I had to make so much of this up, but Grand Chase hasn't exactly told us very much about Zero. I mean, seriously Grand Chase, knock it off creating these new characters no one gives a shit about (i.e. Rin/Lin and Azin/Asin) and finish telling the stories of the characters you've already established. Jeez. Anyway, please just try to bear with the crap I made up. I know it's pretty flawed stuff.

-I'm not great with descriptions, and I didn't really go into what Oz looks like. Just Google it if you don't already know what he looks like.

-Dio's just being a huge perv again. Nothing new there.

-Aw, Oz misses his youth. xD I feel bad for the old guy. Especially since he's named Oz-the Wizard of Oz jokes he must have been forced to endure would suck.

-Why Gran's quoting Ray from Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, I have no idea. xD I just freaking love that game. If you caught that reference, then imaginary high-five to you.

-Yes, Oz sent Zero off that time so he could speak with Dio alone.

-I honestly have no idea what my next project will be. If you have suggestions, PM me. Keep in mind that I can't write real romance stuff and I don't really do pairings. Also no OC's. Thanks.

-Thanks to my readers. You guys are the shit. Especially to my ever-faithful reviewer Solica, who may or may not have died of nosebleeding. xD


	2. Chapter 2

Rufus had never liked the Grandark. The sword had unnerved him the second he had heard it speak. It was even stranger after seeing the sword's power in battle. He didn't even want to get started on the sword's wielder. Zero seemed to constantly shift between a halfway-decent demon and some emotionless stranger.

He was not exactly sure why the sword bothered him so terribly. The bounty hunter should have been ready to accept the fact that something like a sentient sword would exist somewhere—he had certainly seen stranger things in his lifetime. There was just something about how the sword's eye looked at him that made him twitch ever so slightly.

The half-demon recalled asking Zero what the sword was, and the wanderer had said was that it was "a soul placed in the vessel of a blade." That had got him thinking. He realized that it was the soul of the sword that was bothering him. He knew far more about souls than the average human or demon, and Grandark's soul was just…too powerful. Rufus didn't like it one bit.

The bounty hunter was currently seated in his room, polishing his dual pistols and recalling his little adventures in the strange continent of Xenia. He wondered how a simple soul in a blade could oppose a god with such power when Rufus' weapons had not had much of an effect at all. Suddenly it hit him like a pile of bricks. That soul must have been one of the imprisoned; there was no other feasible explanation.

Certain beings in the world were, for one reason or another, far too powerful for their own good. Often said beings would quickly be quickly dealt with by other fairly-powerful beings who would attempt to either try to use the being's power for him or herself or seal the overpowered being's soul away so that it could not cause any more problems. In the end, though, all potentially dangerous souls underwent a powerful sealing in the underworld. These souls were called imprisoned souls, and Rufus' clan was indirectly tasked with making sure that those particular souls (as well as the other, less dangerous souls) did not escape the underworld. Occasionally one managed to free an imprisoned soul for his or her own nefarious purposes, but that always ended in disaster and the soul being resealed.

Rufus had not exactly seen an imprisoned soul before—that kind of access was restricted to the higher-ups—but he certainly felt as though he could recognize one when he saw it. He was almost certain that the Grandark must have contained a soul that either was formerly imprisoned or needed to be sealed as soon as possible.

Either way, this epiphany warranted further investigation. The bounty hunter knew that he would not get any information while Zero was present—the wanderer was fiercely protective of that infernal blade.

He had heard from his half-brother about the whole incident where Dio had tried (and failed) to steal Zero's mask. Lass had been complaining on and on about all the information about the wanderer he had been forced to gather. While Rufus had only been half-listening at the time, he did remember hearing that while Zero was showering the Grandark was always placed leaning against and facing the wall. It was the perfect opportunity to simply take the sword and get the answers himself.

How to get the wanderer into the shower was the main problem now. He had heard a bit about how Dio had trained with Zero in order to achieve that and resolved to try the same thing. Rufus reasoned the wanderer had probably returned from visiting his "home" with Dio and headed for Zero's room.

He entered the room and, after mentally commenting how plain the bedroom was, noticed that the silver-haired demon was not present. Rufus was about to turn around and head back out of the room when he suddenly picked up on the sound of running water. The bounty hunter silently walked up to the adjoining bathroom door and pressed his ear to it. He could distinctly hear the shower running.

Well, that certainly was convenient.

Rufus checked the door and found it (unsurprisingly) locked. Fortunately the locks the Grand Chase Headquarters used were incredibly mundane, and just about anyone with an amateur knowledge of lock picking could pick them. The bounty hunter had picked up a few things in that sort of field, so he found it quite easy to get the lock open with one of the lock picks he had "acquired" from Lass.

He was pleasantly surprised to see how accurate his half-brother had been. Grandark was indeed leaned up against the wall and facing away from him. Rufus guessed that he had only a matter of moments before the wanderer finished in the shower and quickly approached the sword. He tentatively placed a hand on the sword's hilt and almost immediately pulled his hand back. Rufus could have sworn that a strange stinging sensation had just gone through his hand where his skin made contact with the metal. Weird.

The bounty hunter grasped the sword again and attempted to tug the sword from the wall, but only succeeded in pulling a muscle in his arm. That thing was fucking heavy! He wondered how the hell the wanderer carried Grandark around all the time. Rufus tried again and was startled to hear the blade yelling at him.

"Get your filthy hands off of me!"

The half-demon quickly pulled back again and froze in place. He could still hear the water running; consequently he believed that perhaps Zero had not heard the exclamation. Rufus knew that it was best for him to leave now while Grandark could not discern who was attempting to take it.

He quickly turned around and realized that his plan wasn't going to go nearly as smoothly as he initially thought. Zero was standing there, not wearing a shirt. The wanderer's skin was wet; his hair was down and plastered to his head.

After quickly accessing the situation Rufus quickly raised one of his eyeteeth and pressed it to the other demon's exposed chest, aiming directly for the heart. He absentmindedly noticed that Zero's chest was engraved with a double zero. How strange. He also noticed that the demon's mask wasn't on his face. Rufus forced himself to make eye contact.

"…What are you doing?" the wanderer inquired calmly.

"Was Grandark's soul formerly imprisoned?"

Zero remained silent, and his expression remained devoid of emotion.

"Well if you won't answer then I'll have to just get the answers directly from the source. I'll be taking the Grandark, then."

"…If you persist, I will use physical force to deter you."

Rufus did not take the threat very seriously. The wanderer was still separated from his weapon, and he had never seen Zero fight without the Grandark. On the other hand, the bounty hunter had a loaded gun pointed at the silver-haired demon's heart. It was easy to see who had the advantage.

The wanderer abruptly hit the half-demon just below the elbow with the side of his hand. Rufus' hand involuntarily relaxed and dropped the pistol; his arm suddenly went limp. The bounty hunter figured that Zero must have managed to hit the radial nerve or something.

The half-demon used his other arm and raised his other dual pistol at the wanderer, who had managed to move past Rufus and grab the sword. The bounty hunter managed to fire two shots into Zero's back before the silver-haired demon managed to slip into defensive stance.

Rufus had recalled seeing that particular stance hold off a god's attack—he doubted his bullets would have much of an effect. Now was the time for talk. "Zero, if that thing is what I think it is, it needs to go back to the underworld where it belongs. It's dangerous. No human or demon can ever handle something like that. Sooner or later it'll break free and lead to nothing but catastrophe. You seem like a smart guy; just hand that thing over."

"I refuse."

"The hard way it is, then. There's got to be some way to break you of that stance."

Just then Rufus picked up on the sounds of many voices and footsteps out in the hallway. The other chasers had likely heard the first two gunshots and were curious as to why a gun would be firing so far away from Rufus or Mari's rooms. Or the training grounds, for that matter. It would not be long before the others would be clamoring at the door, and Rufus did not want to be seen fighting with a half-naked guy in a bathroom.

"We'll pick up where we left off another time," the half-demon announced. He then quickly exited the bathroom and left Zero's bedroom via the window. There was still one lead left to follow: Grandark's creator. The wanderer had apparently recently visited his master, and Rufus believed it would be fairly easy to track Zero's path.

Using the portal to the other dimension that he kept on his person, the bounty hunter arrived in the city that was the center of the demon's dimension. Other demons milled about around him, not one of them giving Rufus a second look. The half-demon quickly looked in all directions, searching for some sort of sign as to which direction Zero had gone. It was very likely that the wanderer had at least passed through the central area in order to reach his location. Unfortunately Rufus found no indicator that the silver-haired demon had even come close to the central city.

Dio, though, was another story. The bounty hunter easily picked up on the magenta-haired demon's essence; the stygian didn't seem to be used to concealing his aura, and consequently it was very easy to track. The trail began to leave the city and head for the northeast region of the dimension.

The northeast region was more or less a wasteland. It made sense that Zero's master would live in such an isolated region. Rufus followed Dio's blatant trail of energy to a throng of…dead trees. The bounty hunter had heard plenty of rumors about this area. Some said it had been cursed so that nothing could grow; others said that it was the trees themselves that were cursed. Considering that the stygian appeared to have just walked through the mob of dead flora, Rufus guessed the former was true.

The county hunter began to walk through the dead trees, attempting to be as quiet as possible. Along the way he noticed a few signs that he was going the right way—claw marks were present on some of the trees (liked caused by Dio's rake hand), some of the tree branches had been broken, and the branches on the ground were already trampled.

Rufus eventually came to a small house and an ever smaller demon standing in front of it. The bounty hunter had never seen a demon that **old** before. He pointed both pistols at the old demon instinctively. "Are you the Grandark's creator?" he demanded in a firm voice.

"Children these days," the old man mused. "They will not even introduce themselves before pointing a gun at your head…"

"Rufus Wilde."

"Oz Pone Max Reinhardt."

That name sounded familiar… No matter. "Did you illegally free an imprisoned soul to create the Grandark?"

"Ah, you must be from **that** clan," Oz stated coolly. "Well, it was not 'illegally,' per se. I was the one who sealed more than half of the souls you now called 'imprisoned' in the first place. Your clan was indebted to me, and they agreed to let me free one for my own purposes. It seems as though your leaders never informed the people of this."

No wonder the old demon's name was familiar. There were only a few demons that could seal even one overpowered soul, let alone as many as Oz had sealed. "What the hell did you think you were doing? Don't you know what could happen if that thing gets freed?"

Oz sighed. "I am perfectly aware. I am not exactly proud of creating the Grandark; however, desperate times call for desperate measures…"

"That's no excuse!"

"I know."

The old demon seemed so calm while speaking; Rufus could not help but be reminded of Zero. "And what were you thinking handing off such a deadly thing to someone like Zero?" he inquired. "I'm surprised it hasn't managed to make Zero its slave yet!"

"I originally intended to wield the Grandark myself. When it refused, I was forced to create Zero. Believe me, though, Zero has kept the soul at bay for so long not solely by chance. For example, his insecurity and mental instability are two of his greatest assets in concern to Grandark. As Zero does not outright fight against the soul's influence, Grandark has not yet attempted to forcefully take over his mind."

Rufus slowly lowered his weapons. "I've decided that killing you would only be a waste of my time… and bullets," he announced. "Besides, if this turns out like I know it will, all of the blame will be put on your shoulders and I'll just be picking up the pieces. Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and to compensate for saving your life, never tell anyone I was here."

"As you wish. I will take full responsibility for my actions."

"What a platitudinous response." Out of annoyance the bounty hunter fired a shot that missed Oz's neck by mere millimeters and embedded itself in the ground. Rufus was even more irritated to see that the old demon hadn't even flinched when the bullet whizzed by. "At least now I know where Zero gets it from," he ruminated aloud.

Rufus turned around and walked away. No one could blame him for not trying now. If Oz wanted to doom everyone in Aernas, then he could right ahead. The bounty hunter only felt a little guilty for not trying to do more and most of that guilt concerned Zero. The wanderer had always treated Rufus fairly well and seemed to be a fairly decent being—it would be a shame to see the silver-haired demon possessed by Grandark's soul and leveling continents.

Then again, it wasn't Rufus' problem.

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Alright, first let me explain things a bit. I'm not used to writing for Rufus like this, but I certainly attempted it.

-First a little back story. According to some information Fasanation Rose sent me (thanks for that, Fasanation Rose. xD) Rufus is apparently from this clan charged with keeping souls in the underworld and such. Rufus later left in order to pursue his father who apparently went off or something with a human, which produced Lass. In this story I kind of made it so that these were two separate sides of Rufus' character-the side that still lingers with his clan that he sort of abandoned, and the bitter, angry sort of side that made him go after his father and leave everything behind. In the beginning you see the former side of him show, as Rufus feels compelled by his clan origins to bring back something like the Grandark and seal it away. However, in the end the second part of Rufus basically takes over and he's like "Yeah, fuck everyone. I don't really give a shit. Back to finding my dad." I hoped that helped clear things up a bit. If it didn't...well, I tried. xD

-Ok, sorry this took fooooorrrreevvver to write. -.- Well, I have nothing to write now. Ideas welcome. Might even do requests.

-Originally I had planned this story to be a oneshot with only the first chapter, but then this second chapter popped into my head, so now it's a twoshot. I think it's finally complete now, though.

-Special thanks to Fasanation Rose for the inspiration for this. She basically sent me a bunch on Rufus' back story and this...happened. xD Yeaaaahhhh.

-As always, much of this is completely made up. Please try to tolerate it.

-Thanks for reading.


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